October 08
2012

If you like to watch movies on your computer using VLC, you'll have to wait a while to watch The Avengers store-bought DVD. VideoLan, the creators of the player software, say they are working on it. Some folks have had some luck turning off menus when opening the disk, and some have had luck installing an old version (1.15) of the program.

I have no knowledge of how it works with any other player software. If you've used any other freeware apps, let me know. TIA.

Not to get all soapboxy, but trying to combat piracy by making products more inconvenient for consumers seems a bit backwards. "Copy protection" is a joke, and it does nothing but encourage piracy through bad service. Tech-savvy consumers can usually get around these sorts of things, and so can pirates, which leaves the average non-savvy consumer who just wants things to be simple. Guess where those people will turn when the industry keeps screwing them over. Who's providing the service that just simply works? Why, that'd be the pirates. Ironic, isn't it? That the thing that's specifically designed to prevent piracy is the very thing that pushes consumers toward it?

I'm not advocating piracy. I am simply saying that the industry is shooting itself in the foot by making their products inconvenient.

Well this is such a shame. Yet another example of Disney screwing up The Avengers DVD. How many does that make it total? (the briefcase kerfuffle, censored UK release, lying about the censored UK relase, now this)
I thought it was 'too perfect' to have something awesome from Whedon that doesn't get spoiled by the studio somehow, guess I spoke to soon.
I still haven't brought the DVD (although my family have the UK Bluray) I guess this is another reason to put it off until the bring out a "proper" version.
I have many friends who are resorting to piracy because it's better than the censored UK release.

I agree with you GreatMuppetyOdin, and will just say that IRS has done the same thing to independant tax preparers in order to "combat fraud". The ones doing the fraud are still doing it, while I'm out of a job. Sorry to derail the topic.

Back to the topic, I've used VLC for everything, and I love it. If this is a bug, then I'm confident the VLC people will get it working correctly. They've always been good at keeping up with codecs and such. I've not tried the Avengers Dvd on my computer since we 1.) Have the Bluray and 2.) Mum-in-law has a DVD player (she loved the movie btw!!).

I can't, no. Windows media (and everything else) may have worked before my DVD ROM got permanently locked in region 2, but once that happened (and you can only switch between regions five times before it does), only region-free players like VLC work. I'll need to do some Googling and installing, I guess.

Maybe when the S.H.I.E.L.D. series goes up, they can have one agent in the background whose entire job consists of making DVDs work properly. Or would that be too overtly super-heroic on a weekly basis?

This is really annoying, I hate how copy protection keeps getting in the way of customers. After buying the Thor DVD last year, I noticed that I didn't have any way of actually watching it due to its nasty copy protection. Of course I sent complaints to Paramount, but didn't get any reply -- surprise...

Got the US BR/dvd set, ran the DVD through DVDFab to rip the commentary because it wouldn't copy with anything else (and I lack a BR drive in my PC)... Should work for the movie too for those who want to go that way.

I always rip movies to h.264 with Handbrake before watching them these days. Easier to backup, more convenient to get at and you don't have to wade through three hours of unskippable ads/menus/piracy warnings before getting to the actual feature. I tend not to bother with extras though; YMMV.

I use AnyDVD to get around shenanigans like this. Like a full copper repipe, it's potentially pricey, but I think there's a free trial and so far it hasn't failed on anything, ever.

I actually couldn't get around it directly using Handbrake even just to rip the commentary because of the new flavour of copy protection just introduced (which amusingly going by the DVDFab version notes was introduced with... The Cabin in the Woods.)

AnyDVD is expensive, but slysoft offers a free 3 week trial it and all of their products. Which is great if you want to do a backup or rip your DVDs. It's good that my 4 disk version of Avengers has a digital copy, but I wanted a digital copy with the directors commentary. AnyDVD & CloneDVD Mobile made it easy.